the issue regarding getting the kits prepacked out of china is simply the cost difference. I recently price a 150cc Ultimate, with custom colour scheme, and also same plane uncovered. the prices I got were $50 different between covered and uncovered. When I asked if I could get it as a completew kit the price only dropped another $75. Now bare in mind this is for a 100" Ultimate biplane, It makes you wonder at (a) how little labour is in china and (b) how cheap the chinacote must really be.
Another point with the chinese is all thier kits are designed to be built in simple jigs by basicly unskilled workers using hotmelt glue guns for the most part, and covering is done much the same way. I shudder at the thought of having to build a kit from an arf type plane. Without the right jigs to hold them steady during construction and covering it will be diffult to build them straight. I have the remains here of a 60 sized arf that had a one point arrival, most of the fuse from just before the wing saddle and back was intact, and the wing looked relatively unscathed, so I took it home to have a good look at how it was built. Talk about minimal wood anywhere, and what was there was cracked or broken, and it was only the covering holding it all togetherand the wing was worse yet. and then there was all the usual suspects, unglued joints with the glue sitting nicely 1-2 mm away from where it was needed. The chinese have honed down the amount of timber for these planes to an absolute minimum, its no wonder the arf's are so light, but you pay the penalty for it too. I would NOT buy a kit the way these arfs are constructed.